Wednesday, August 5, 2009

St. Vrain and Meadow Mountains

I got to do a weekday hike with Nick from our WTS class. He agreed to go with me to do one of my projects--St. Vrain and Meadow Mountains. We drove up to Allenspark and parked on the Rock Creek 4-wheel drive road. The regular trailhead is closed due to an aggressive animal that is protecting her young.

We started up the road and eventually had to move off trail to get to the saddle connecting St. Vrain and Meadow. The flowers alongside the creek were gorgeous and we enjoyed the picturesque vistas. The bushwhacking got a bit treacherous towards the treeline but we did our best to follow game paths.

We found the St. Vrain Mountain trail and followed it to the south side of the peak. Once again we left the trail and then summited St. Vrain. There was a rock shelter at the top, but we didn't need it because it was such a beautiful day.

The skies were not threatening at all, so we headed east to Meadow Mountain. We followed the trail back to the saddle and scoped out the best route up Meadow. It was just a couple hundred feet to summit.

Because it was difficult following the right 4-wheel drive roads we decided to follow the traditional trail back to about half a mile from the trailhead and then we cut over across the ridge back to the car. Overall, we did about 10 miles and 3800' elevation gain. It was an awesome (and dry!) day.